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A full review of Sabayon Linux 6, including a gallery of images.

Fedora 15 was recently released and I decided to snag a copy to review. Since there are a billion reviews already of the default desktop version with GNOME 3, I’ll be covering the KDE version in this review (though I may circle back to the GNOME version at some point for a review). As I noted in my column “The Many Faces of Fedora,” there are quite a lot of Fedora spins now available. You can get spins that focus on gaming, design, security or that use different desktops (such as LXDE, KDE, Xfce or GNOME).

Check out Fedora's respins including Fedora Games, Fedora Design-suite, Fedora Electronic Lab, Fedora Security Lab and the LXDE/XFCE/KDE versions of Fedora.

There’s been quite a lot of talk about “the cloud” lately so what better time to do a review of one of the best cloud-oriented desktop Linux distributions? Peppermint OS One came out a while ago and its successor has just been released. Peppermint OS Two is based on Lubuntu 11.04 and, for the first time, comes in a 64-bit edition. Lubuntu is a good choice as a base for Peppermint OS Two since it runs well on older or slower hardware.

A full review of Xubuntu 11.04, including a gallery of images.

Each time a new version of Ubuntu is released, a new version of Linux Mint quickly follows. Linux Mint 11 has just been released and it’s probably the best version of Linux Mint ever. If you aren’t familiar with Linux Mint then you’ve missed out on what is arguably one of the best desktop Linux distros available. Linux Mint 11 is based on Ubuntu 11.04 but it takes that distro to a whole new level, as you’ll see in this review.

Linux Mint Debian Edition has proven to be a popular release for the Linux Mint developers. It’s certainly at the top of my list of favorite distros. Linux Mint Debian edition uses the GNOME desktop and, as good as it is, it’s just not right for some folks (especially those on older or slower computers). Enter Linux Mint 201104 Xfce version. Now you can get the benefits of a rolling Debian distro and the virtues of the lightweight Xfce desktop environment. Linux Mint Xfce runs on top of a Debian Testing base and makes use of the same repositories as regular Linux Mint Debian Edition.

A full review of Lubuntu 11.04, including a gallery of images.

A full review of Kubuntu 11.04, including a gallery of images.

Ubuntu’s latest release (code named Natty Narwhal) is finally out and I grabbed a copy of it to check it out. Canonical has gotten some flack for this release since it uses Unity as the default desktop instead of the usual GNOME interface. Some users seem to love it and others have vowed to switch away from Ubuntu and find some other distribution as their main desktop Linux.

Ubuntu has many different derivative distros and now there’s a new one called Bodhi Linux. Bodhi derives from the Buddhist term for enlightenment and, not surprisingly, it uses the Enlightenment desktop environment. The leaf logo used throughout this distribution takes meaning from its name since the word “bodhi” also denotes a sacred tree in Buddhism.

A full review of Fusion Linux 14, including a gallery of images.

I last looked at openSUSE on Desktop Linux Reviews when it hit version 11.3. This update takes openSUSE up to version 11.4 so I opted to do a quick look instead of a full review on DLR. OpenSUSE comes with a number of different desktop environments. For this quick look I went with the KDE version, but a GNOME version is also available on the openSUSE downloads page. You can also roll your own via the SUSE Studio site.

A full review of Zorin OS 4, including a gallery of images. Many people coming from Windows try Ubuntu Linux as their first Linux distribution. But Ubuntu itself, while very good, may not always be the best choice. There are many Ubuntu derivatives and it’s possible that one of those can sometimes be a better bet for those seeking to ease their way into a comfortable Linux niche. Zorin OS is an Ubuntu derivative designed to help make the transition from Windows to Linux as easy as possible.

A full review of Frugalware 1.4 Nexon, including a gallery of images. I’ve gotten a fair number of requests to look at Frugalware in the past so I decided to take a peek at Frugalware 1.4 (Nexon). Frugalware has always had a reputation for not being very accessible to newer Linux users or those who simply wanted an easy to use desktop version of Linux.

Every once in a while I run into a distro that has me scratching my head and wondering what the developers were thinking. PureOS is just such a distribution. Version 3.0 was just released and announced on DistroWatch, so I thought I’d give it a download and see what it was like. I had initially planned to do a full review of it on Desktop Linux Reviews, but I ran into a snag with the install (which I’ll talk more about in that section of this quick look) so I decided to do a quick look instead. This quick look is based on the live desktop environment.

It wasn’t too long ago that I did a very late review of Debian 5. I’m happy to say that it didn’t take me nearly as long to get around to the latest release, Debian 6 Squeeze. If you aren’t familiar with Debian then this release is a great chance to learn about a distro that is the foundation for a lot of other distributions including Ubuntu, Linux Mint and others.

It’s been a while since I last took a look at Pardus and much has changed since then. The distro has been upgraded to Pardus 2011. Pardus is a KDE distribution created in Turkey by the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE). The word “pardus” is actually derived from the Latin name for a leopard that lives in Turkey. This is why you’ll see leopard/kitty graphics in the distribution at times.

A quick look at Dreamlinux 3.5 GNOME. Dreamlinux has been requested a number of times since the blog launched, and this week I’ve finally gotten around to taking a peek at it. Dreamlinux is based on Debian and it comes with Xfce or GNOME as the default desktop. I picked the GNOME version for this quick look.

It’s been quite a while since I last looked at MoonOS. The last review covered version 3.0, this time around it’s MoonOS 4.0. MoonOS is another Ubuntu-based derivative, so if Ubuntu appeals to you then MoonOS 4 might be right up your alley.